Day 18 – Presence

(C) Robert Bell - used with permission

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away…
You hem me in, behind and before…
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me…
Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?...
Search me, O God, and know my heart…
and lead me in the way everlasting. 

(Psalm 139: 1-2, 5-7, 23-34)

 When we speak of God being near or far away, or of ‘seeking God’s presence’, what do we actually mean? There are certainly times when we may be particularly aware of his presence and times when he seems absent. The familiar problem with our praying or spiritual life does not lie in finding the place where God is. The idea that we are separated from God is an illusion. The problem we face is being present to ourselves.

(Extract from Dust & Glory by David Runcorn)

 For Reflection

Mindfulness is a way of practising being present to ourselves and, therefore, to life itself. Sit in an upright chair with both feet on the ground. Then quietly become aware of your physical body. Notice your breathing as it flows in and out of your body. Just that. Close your eyes and focus your attention on your body, your breath, the movement of your rib cage. Patiently. For two minutes.

 Remember in Prayer

Those who sense God is absent from their lives; those who are uncomfortable in their own bodies; those who seek peace of mind and body.

Presence (JH)

Day 17 – Relationship

Ducks (JH)

 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!

For your love is better than wine,

your anointing oils are fragrant,

your name is perfume poured out…

Draw me after you, let us make haste.

If you do not know,

O fairest among women…

Ah, you are beautiful, my love;

ah, you are beautiful;

your eyes are doves. 

(Song of Songs 1: 2-4, 8, 15)

 

This is a strange poem to find in the Bible. It contains no direct references to God, prayer or any religious activity. Yet some instinct tells us that this song is central to all we seek – and so it is for it celebrates everything that humanity most yearns for. Here is creation restored from its ancient threefold rupture – the separation of humans from each other, the separation between humans and the natural world, and the separation of humans from God. The song is a celebration of homecoming from exile to the original garden of God’s good creating.

(Extract from Dust & Glory by David Runcorn)

 Prayer

Lord, whether I am joyful or fearful, whole or wounded, thank you for being at the heart and healing of my most intimate loving.

Remember Today

Those we love; those whose relationships are nourishing and those whose relationships are fractured; those separated from loved ones because of Covid-19.

Day 16 – Reward

 

Mia receives the President’s Commendation Award Sept 2019

But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate…’ Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’” (Luke 15: 22-23, 31-32).

 A prodigal father is at the centre of this story. It is he who lives out the greatest profligacy. When we come to ourselves it will be to discover that a wild, prodigal love is the source of all our living. So what of our own inheritance? What does such love say to us as we reflect on the mixture of freedom or constraint with which we live our lives? When the Father speaks to us, do we need to hear him say, ‘Come home’ or ‘You never asked?’

(Extract from Dust & Glory by David Runcorn)

 For Reflection and Prayer

Which prayer do I need to pray today? ‘Father, I want to come home to your love’ or ‘Father, I want to risk the adventure of the life you have given me’?

Summit - Ben Lomond (DS)

Day 15 – Homecoming

“Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’” (Luke 15: 25-32)

There was a mission in town, throughout which the faithful congregation struggled with the outward focus of it all. On the final evening there was an invitation to any to come forward as a mark of new commitment to Christ. There was a pause and then, to the surprise of all, one of the most respected, lifelong church members walked rapidly up the aisle, nervous and tearful. She told of a homecoming. “I have been running for 20 years,” she said.

(Extract from Dust & Glory by David Runcorn)

 For Reflection

Do you ever ask yourself ‘what if I had made a different choice?’ Has your answer changed over the years?

 Prayer

Lord, I wish to live all that is yet unlived in me.

Homecoming - The Gambia - bringing the water (DS) 

Day 14 – Journey

Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and travelled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs…But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’ (Luke 15: 11-15, 17-19)

Hebrew storytelling puts it main point in the middle, not the end. “Here came to himself.” This is such a revealing phrase. We speak of ‘coming to our senses’ which catches the same sense of shock of recognition. The ‘far country’ is not just a physical place for the son. He has been in exile from himself. He sees where his behaviour and choices have led him. He has blown everything. His only option is to return home. Perhaps there is something to envy in this young man’s moment of truthful awakening.

(Extract from Dust & Glory by David Runcorn)

 La Gomera (DS)

Footprints in the snow (Pat)

Prayer

Lord, whatever journey I am on, bring me to myself.

Journey (DM)

Day 13 – Temptation

Coffee and cake (DM)

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptised by him…And when Jesus had been baptised, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.  And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God… (Matthew 3: 13, 16-4: 3)

Desert (EN)

Temptations follow baptism. They come to those in whom God delights and who are filled with him. The testing is a consequence of being filled with the Spirit. The challenge for us is to turn from preoccupation with our own sin and failure. Something holy and purposeful is at work in us. The wilderness is the natural habitat of the Spirit. This challenges us in the way we respond to the tests and struggles of life.

(Extract from Dust & Glory by David Runcorn)

 Prayer

Come, Holy Spirit, and lead me into the temptation of God. 

Day 12 – Broken

 

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. (Luke 24: 30-35)

In only one other meal in the Bible are ‘eyes opened’ – at the first meal in Scripture, in Genesis, when Adam and Eve take food they have been forbidden to touch. Their eyes are opened, but not to life or joy. Catastrophic loss follows and they are condemned to wander for ever in exile from creation and from God. Here, on the far side of death, that wandering comes to an end. Eyes are opened but this time to joyful recognition. In this meal creation is renewed and the broken story of humankind begins again.

(Extract from Dust & Glory by David Runcorn)

Prayer

Lord, make yourself known among those I pray for today, whose lives contain broken things, who feel lost and far from home.

Remember today

Those people and places which feel broken and displaced – those familiar to you and those you hear about in the news.

Broken - high altar Nikolaikirche Stralsund (KB)
(This altarpiece has a story. It was a valuable 14th century carved altar which had been stored for safety during the war when the town was bombed. Afterwards there was the Soviet occupation and huge hardship, and the cross and some of the wooden figures at the top were removed and used as toys for the children who had nothing. When the church was restored about 20 years ago they decided not to try to restore the original but keep the memory of how the altarpiece had given some happiness in a hard time. The new cross is deliberately modern.)